IF YOU SHOULD KNOW ME by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali

Once concealed

like the Devil

in the body

of a serpent-

as an apple of sin

in the hand

of a temptress- 

I am the biter.

For all

I bare my heart 

to see the flint

to be ignited

into a flame

shaped like three tongues 

that tell me -

look, listen and learn 

what surrounds me.

O! come search

my soul for non-existent virtues

outnumbered by vices 

as numerous as greenflies

devouring all my righteousness.

Look upon me as a pullet crawling

from an eggsshell

laid by a Zulu hen, 

ready to fly in spirit

to all lands or earth.